SEC to sign $2.85 billion power plant deal with consortium

The Qurayyah plant will add around 11,000 MW of capacity in the kingdom- Image Credit : bfg-global.com

Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) signed a US$2.85 billion power deal with a consortium of companies for construction of a 4,000 MW gas fired power plant Qurayyah plant.

The consortium will be made up of Samsung, Acwa Power Projects Ltd and Mena Fund. Germany's Siemens will provide equipment while Samsung C&T will be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor.

The Qurayyah plant

Al-Qurayyah, south of the eastern city of Khobar, would have a power generation capacity of around 3,900 MW, SEC said.

The deal combines two plant project phases. IPP1 and IPP2 -- is the third of five now planned (IPP) that will add a total of around 11,000 MW of capacity.

The plant is expected to start production before the summer of 2014. It is the third of the six planned Independent Power Projects (PPP) will add around 11,000 MW of capacity in the kingdom.

Under the deal, Saudi Electricity will buy all the power produced by the plant for 20 years for 7 halalas per kilowatt hour from the consortium that will run it on a build-own-operate basis.